People Property Place

Gawain Smart, CEO of International Campus Group, joins me on the People Property Place Podcast 🎙️ this week. We talk through his journey from a legal career in Canada and Wall Street to running one of Europe's largest living sector platforms. We get into what it takes to scale and professionalise a private equity-backed real estate business, how to lead through change, and what's coming next for E...

Dean Harrison, Founder of Harleyford Capital, joins me on the People Property Place Podcast 🎙️ this week. We explore his journey from a motocross-obsessed upbringing to building Harleyford Capital, a best-in-class institutional operating platform in one of the toughest real estate markets of the last decade. Dean breaks down the discipline, grit, and mindset needed to build something from scratch....

Revisiting: How Developers Are Becoming City Builders – with Morwenna Hall, COO, Related Argent In this special recap episode, we revisit one of our most thought-provoking conversations — with Morwenna Hall, Chief Operating Officer at Related Argent. As we reflect on the highlights from this episode, we explore how Morwenna redefines the role of the modern developer — far beyond bricks, leases, an...

Natan Lempert, Co-Founder and CEO of Built AI, joins me on the People Property Place Podcast 🎙️ this week. We unpack his journey from investment banking in New York and London to real estate private equity, and ultimately founding Built AI - a platform using AI to streamline underwriting and asset management for institutional real estate investors and brokers. Having been a practitioner, Natan bri...

Keith Breslauer, Managing Director & Senior Partner at Patron Capital Partners , joins me on the People Property Place Podcast this week.   Please note that this conversation was originally released on the 18th July 2024, and we have decided to re-release it given the recent news that Mitsubishi Estate Co. has acquired a majority stake in European private equity property fund manager Patron Capita...

In this episode, I chat with Kevin Aitchison, MBE and Managing Director – Head of Europe at Savills Investment Management, about his remarkable journey from building surveyor to being an accomplished CEO, having led firms such as ING Real Estate, Knight Frank Investment Management, and Savills Investment Management's European platform. Kevin is unassuming, empathetic, honest, open, thoughtful, sel...

In this episode, I sat down with the absolute powerhouse that is Zena Couppey, CEO of Altum Group, to unpack her extraordinary journey from leaving school at 16 to leading Altum, a rapidly scaling global fund administration business more than 200 people across six international offices. If you're interested in business building, private markets, fund administration, or scaling a high-performance t...

In this episode, I sat down with Jermaine Browne - co-founder of Re:shape Living Group and Ark Co-Living - to unpack his journey from urban sociology student to becoming one of the UK's leading voices in co-living, regeneration and alternative living. If you're interested in planning, entrepreneurial grit, urban renewal or the business of building places where people actually want to live, this is...

In this episode, I sit down with Sir David Michels (the first Sir on the pod!) – former CEO of Hilton, Deputy Chairman of Marks & Spencer, and Non-Executive Director at British Land and EasyJet – to explore his stellar corporate and non-executive career. If you're interested in leadership, decision-making and the realities of running capital-intensive businesses, this conversation offers direct in...

Sue Clayton - Senior Independent Advisor & Non Exec How do you stay at the top of your game across four decades in commercial real estate? In this episode, I sit down with Sue Clayton, former Managing Director of Capital Markets at CBRE, board member, investor, adviser, and Co-Founder of Real Estate Balance - to break down a career built on trust, consistency, and integrity. We cover how Sue rose...

Alastair Mullens is Managing Director - Residential at Canary Wharf Group. He joined the business in 2018  to establish the group's Build-to-Rent platform, Vertus. He now oversees all the residential functions at Canary Wharf.  Prior to this he spent nine years with Hamptons International & Countrywide Group based in London and Hong Kong, working across residential management, leasing, and develop...

Ian Worboys is CEO and Co-Founder of EGLS, a pan-European logistics platform focused on sustainable development. With 40+ years in real estate, he's led major businesses including P3 Logistic Parks and Panattoni, and is known for building high-performing teams and scaling platforms across Europe. I sat down with Ian to discuss a broad range of subjects which covered some of the following topics: ·...

Episode 122 — Damien Sharkey, Managing Director at HUB In this episode of  People Property Place , we sit down with Damien Sharkey , Managing Director at HUB, to unpack how he rose from a family joinery workshop in rural Ireland to leading one of the UK's most forward-thinking development firms. We dive deep into: The evolution of Build-to-Rent (BTR) in the UK HUB's strategy behind converting "str...

​​Carlo Matta is the CEO of Nido Living, a leading European student accommodation platform, where he drives growth and oversees delivery across the portfolio. He previously led CA Ventures' pan-European PBSA business, managing development, acquisitions, and operations and has held roles at Actis, Hines Europe, and he brings over 25 years of international real estate experience across Europe, the U...

Simon Cooke is a founding shareholder and board member of Catella APAM, with over 40 years of experience in UK commercial real estate. He co-founded APAM in 2009 and he chairs the Investment Committee and shapes strategy, asset management, and client relationships. Simon recently launched the firm's first listed equities fund, securing £102.2 million to target undervalued UK-listed property compan...

​​ OUT NOW – Michael Kovacs, Founding Partner at Castleforge, a research-based, thematic, vertically integrated real estate investor, investing in the UK and Europe on behalf of pension funds, institutions and individuals, sits down with me on the People Property Place Podcast 🎙️ this week. Prior to founding Castleforge in 2010, Michael worked at Westbrook Partners in London, where he was involved...

Piers Slater is the Founder & CEO of Reef Origin with over two decades of experience building and scaling real estate platforms. After founding Reef Estates in 2001 (trading as Reef Group from 2017), he grew the business to over £2bn under development management. In 2024, he co-founded Reef Origin, focusing on sectors at the intersection of real assets and innovation - life sciences, Industry 4.0,...

This week we're taking you back for a re-cap on the Ian Marcus episode because it was that good. If you missed it the first time, here's your chance to catchup!   Ian Marcus OBE – Senior Adviser, Eastdil Secured Ian is a graduate of the University of Cambridge having studied Land Economy. Since then, he has held roles at Bank of America, UBS, NatWest, Deutsche and Credit Suisse. He currently sits...

Jonathan Ivory is the Chief Investment Officer at Packaged Living where he leads on investment across all strategies. Jonathon is a member of The British Property Federation Build to Rent Sub-Committee, The Urban Land Institute Residential Council, Commercial Real Estate Finance Council Europe, Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government Build to Rent Committee and a director of The UK Apar...

Peter Clayton leads Property Finance at Leumi UK, bringing nearly 20 years of real estate finance experience. Since joining in 2021, he has worked across all property sectors with a range of borrowers, from entrepreneurs to institutional investors and has dramatically expanded the firm's lending book, team size and capability. Previously, Peter held senior roles at Lloyds Banking Group and Santand...

James Scott is the Co Founder and COO of Stories, a purpose-led property development company that partners with landowners to deliver long-term social, economic and environmental outcomes. James' role is focused on product, strategy and marketing alongside the operational side of the business. ​He is an Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge where he read mechanical engineering and he is a member of...

Chris Hunt , Co-Founder of V7 joins me on the People Property Place Podcast 🎙️ this week for a rerun. Chris is hilarious, and his passion for the business, team, work and clients really shines through in this conversation. I sat down with Chris back in 2023, and this episode was the first released on video, so go check it out on Youtube! V7 is a creative and forward-thinking asset and development...

Richard Croft CEO of Martley Capital Group joins me on the People Property Place Podcast 🎙️ for ROUND 2. The first conversation I had with Richard, according to the stats, is the second most popular PPP episode to date... So, 11 months on from our first conversation I sat down with Richard to get the inside scoop on what the team have been working on, as well as his take on the current market... W...

Hugh Macdonald-Brown – Co-Founder & CEO of Roebuck joins me on the People Property Place Podcast 🎙️ this week for our re-released conversation. Hugh, or Macca, or 'Legend' as he goes by in our office, is full of energy and shares the realities of leaving a corporate job and setting out on the entrepreneurial path. Plenty of wins, but it hasn't been all smooth sailing... Hands down one of my favour...

We think that this interview with Catherine was so good that we wanted to run it again to make sure you didn't miss it the first tome round!  Formerly known as PfP Capital, Thriving Investments is a leading fund manager with a social conscience. The business already manages three living strategies totalling £700m and so far it has acquired and delivered 3,500 private rented sector and for-sale hom...